Each pink taxi comes with a beauty kit, a GPS system and an alarm button. The new fleet of 35 cabs in the Mexican city of Puebla are only driven by women and don’t stop for men. The cabs cater especially to those tired of leering male drivers.
“Some of the woman who have been on board tell us how male taxi drivers cross the line and try to flirt with them and make inappropriate propositions,” said Aida Santos, who drives one of the compact, taxis with a tracking device and an alarm button that notifies emergency services.
“In the Pink Taxi they won’t have that feeling of insecurity, and they feel more relaxed,” she said.
Women’s rights activists are aghast at the cars’ sugary presentation and said the service does not address the root causes of the harassment problem.
“We are in the 21st century, and they are saying women have continued worrying about beauty and nothing more,” said Vianeth Rojas, of the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Puebla. “They are absolutely not helping eradicate violence against women.”
The taxis, however, undeniably open up to women what has been an overwhelmingly male profession.
Forty-year-old taxi driver Lidia Hernandez called the pink Chevy compacts “a new and attractive source of employment.”
Pink Taxi de Puebla invested 5.8 million pesos (US$440,000) to start the service and the Puebla state government provided licensing and training. If the program succeeds, officials plan to expand it to other cities.
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